The Protector
by The Rookie Author
Summary: When a UNSC frigate is transported to Strangereal, what will the repercussions be? A/N- I am bad at summaries.
1. Character List

The Protector: Character List

Mobius 1: James Tanner; Wary when you first meet him, however once you get to know the national hero of ISAF, he becomes slightly more friendly, however unless off duty he remains no nonsense. James has destroyed two of the most powerful weapons ever built, destroyed the most elite enemy squadron singlehandedly, and has the estimated strength of an entire squadron of ace fighters.

 **Pilots: F-15 ACTIVE**

Mobius 8: Vanessa O'Reilly; A naturally outgoing, friendly and caring person, she is friendly all the time. She is almost always cheerful no matter what time of the day or what is going on. This tentative love interest of James is the perfect Yin to his Yang. She was Mobius 1's wingman from his first mission onward.

 **Pilots: F-15 ACTIVE**

Mobius 5: Jerry Schmidt; This man is the smartest man in the squadron, he is the resident non-regs upgrade person. That isn't to say that he isn't a good pilot, as evidenced by the fact that he made it through the massive battle of Megalith, in which the 20 aircraft of Mobius squadron faced of against both a hail of asteroids, missiles, and 35 Yellow Squadron SU-35's.

 **Pilots: F-14A Raptor**

Mobius 3: Hope Martinez; One of the youngest pilots in the squadron before the battle of Megalith, she became officially tied for the youngest spot with her twin brother, Ray, after the only younger pilot, Nguyen, after an extremely unlikely and unlikely hit severed both the fuel, and coolant lines, along with their alarms wires. This caused Mobius 13 to explode in a ball of flame on final approach to Megalith island. This 22 year old is, despite being extremely competitive with him, best when flying with her brother. She is slightly cocky in the air, however on the ground she becomes very personable.

 **Pilots: F-14A Raptor**

Mobius 7: Ray Martinez; Ray Martinez is an excellent pilot with rather strange luck. During several missions of the Eurasian war, Ray would comment to the others: "Watch me earn my ace wings today!" Every time he said this, his squadron was attacked by Stonehenge, the precursor to Megalith. Eventually, Mobius 1 half-joked that if Ray said that one more time that he would be shot down by "Accidental friendly fire." Ray quickly shut up, and redeemed himself by shooting down a fighter that would have otherwise destroyed Mobius 1, ironically finally earning his Ace wings.

 **Pilots: F-14A Raptor**

Mobius 4; Mike Buford; While there used to be a total of five bomber pilots in Mobius Squadron, all but Mike were killed shortly after realizing they couldn't bomb the generators of Megalith from the outside. Maria, Jake, Duncan, and Avery were all killed by the 2 reserve SU-35's. Mike however managed to preform uncommonly high speed maneuvers with his Thunderbolt, shooting down one of the two Yellow pilots, before the remainders of Mobius squadron arrived and destroyed the last fighter. Has a no-nonsense attitude, which enables him to work extremely well with Mobius 1.

 **Pilots: A-10 Thunderbolt**

AWACS SkyEye: Martin Vasquez; SkyEye is the logistical support for Mobius Squadron, and the direct superior to Mobius 1. Ironically, Mobius 1's first mission, and most decisive mission thus-far occurred on his birthday. He gives the position of enemy fighters, weapon emplacements, and updates mission objectives. He has a cheerful attitude and even when dealing out bad information never falters in his efficiency.

 **Pilots: Advanced Warning, Alert and Command System (AWACS) modified Boeing 747**

Casualties from Megalith campaign:

Mobius 2: Dakota Johnson

 **Piloted: F-14A Raptor**

Mobius 6: Duncan Hanson

 **Piloted: A-10 Thunderbolt**

Mobius 9: Maria Rueben

 **Piloted: A-10 Thunderbolt**

Mobius 10: Jake Gonzalez

 **Piloted: A-10 Thunderbolt**

Mobius 11: Avery Wilson

 **Piloted: A-10 Thunderbolt**

Mobius 12: Orlando Patterson

 **Piloted: F-14 ARaptor**

Mobius 13: Nguyen Yamamoto

 **Piloted: F-14A Raptor**

Mobius 14: Alfred Kawazinski

 **Piloted: F-14ARaptor**

Mobius 15: Sabrina Harris

 **Piloted: F-14A Raptor**

Mobius 16: Caitlyn Trinidad

 **Piloted: F-15 ACTIVE**

Mobius 17: Marcus Ramirez

 **Piloted: F-15 ACTIVE**

Mobius 18: James Myers

 **Piloted: F-15 ACTIVE**

Mobius 19: Katie Myers

 **Piloted: F-15 ACTIVE**

Mobius 20: Leonardo Guttierez

 **Piloted: SU-37**

AWACS HeadsUp: Martin O'Conners

 **Piloted: Advanced Warning, Alert and Command System (AWACS) modified Boeing 747**

AJK-176: Garret Samson, Terrence Danielson, Samantha Rogers

 **Piloted: DE-23 Mid-flight refueling & tanker airplane**.


	2. Chapter 2

Break Right:

"All Mobius Aircraft, form up on Mobius 1," SkyEye said into his mic, only seconds earlier Mobius 1 had flown from the small missile tube of Megalith, the Erusian weapon of mass destruction. SkyEye smiled as James Tanner, otherwise known as Mobius 1 whooped as he did a victory roll, alongside Vanessa O'Reilly, also known as Mobius 8 (Previously Rapier 8).

 **A/N- I know that Rapier/ Mobius 8 is a male, but hey, even a halfassed excuse for art still has artistic liberty! ;P**

"O'er azure skies and emerald plains," Vanessa started singing the USEA national anthem, Hymn of Liberty, as the 6 remaining planes of Mobius Squadron formed up in an arrowhead formation. With Mobius 1 & 8 in the front flying side by side, then on the left & right sides respectively, Mobius 7 & 3, and then staggered a bit back, in a line behind Mobius 1, Mobius 5 & 4\. Less than a year earlier, Vanessa had started up the same song after destroying the Erusian's "Invincible" Aegir fleet.

"Where freedom and justice prevail!" The entire squadron was singing now.

"With courage and strength!" Mobius squadron sang in perfect harmony as they sped back towards base, still in perfect formation, "We'll fight to the end! For liberty in our hands!" As they said this, the left and right flanks banked steeply, and the two lead aircraft pointed their noses toward the sky, all drawing sharp contrails.

"If our enemies have more might! We can still set right, victory is always, in, sight!" As the national anthem ended, the squadron reformed their ranks and sped their Raptors towards base at supersonic speeds.

 **A/N- Yes, I added a few lines to the anthem, I felt it was slightly short, I don't know if it's good or not, I'm not an amazing musician.**

James Tanner could fell his F-15's wheels screeching as he touched down on the North Point Runway. As he began to taxi towards the hangar, the leader of Mobius Squadron saw a mob of people streaming towards him. Crazy bastards... Couldn't they just let him get to the hangar and relax? Of course not. So he just decided to go with the flow. He slid open the canopy of his plane and stepped on to the fuselage, ripping off his helmet as he did so, therefore messing up his slightly longer than regulation jet black hair... Damn he hated helmet head. He then threw his hands above his head and gave a scream of victory. He had been sure he would crash in the tight tunnels on the way to the generators.

 **A/N: I. Hated. That. Level... Level 18 of Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies on Ace mode is the hardest level of any game I have ever played ever. Period. Those damn tunnels must've killed me at least 30 times. Additionally, for some reason I hate seeing my allies die, so I kept on retrying to keep at least 5 members of Mobius Squadron alive, I personally think it is hilarious that the level starts you at altitude: 666,666. If you have a Playstation 2, you need to get Ace Combat: 4 Shattered Skies (Or Rolling Thunder outside of North America.) it's graphics and gameplay hold up to this day, and unlike most games of its genre, it has a deep storyline and dialogue, deeper than some RPG's, and some movies, ("Cough cough, Phantom Menace, cough, 'I hate sand', cough cough") that nearly put me to tears...**

He climbed off his F-15, using the built in ladder, and turned around to the remainders of his squadron. So many would be going home in body bags, but not these ones. Almost instantly Vanessa charged at him and wrapped him in an embrace, which he gladly returned. He could almost hear the sigh of disappointment coming from the TV sets as female teens watched him hug his girlfriend. Not from the GHQ of ISAF, most of the pilots had known that he had been in an on and off relationship with his wingman. He rubbed her back and gave her a kiss on the forehead before he turned to face the crowd of journalists and pilots. He sighed and asked the inevitable question that the former would want to hear, "Questions?"

"Okay, those are all the questions I'm gonna answer for today, don't you freaking dare try to ask me questions on the way out, I'm sorry, but I'm extremely tired so please let me through, Oh goddamnit, I told you no more questions! Thank you sir, pardon me." James had been answering questions for nearly 3 hours now, and he was finished. As soon as there was an opening, he practically ran for the exit. As he left the room, he was surprised to find half the pilots of North Point were standing attention on the right side of the hangar and the other half on the left. In the center, there was a graying man next to a very slightly younger man, James froze as he recognized the men. The first, slightly older one was Kyle Samson, the president of ISAF, and the man standing next to him was Dennis Warren, the head of the Air Force.

"Come on down son!" Said Warren, who was smiling broadly. And so James Tanner walked towards the men, starstruck. As he walked, his eyes searched the crowd for his men, all were standing in the front row, grinning broadly, with spots with only a picture frame with the face of the casualties for all the fallen squad members. Pinned to all their chests and to the picture frames were Medals of Honor, Courage, Valor, and one that James didn't recognize.

"I hope you forgive us, we instructed the press to keep you occupied so that we could assemble all the pilots and get pictures of me he casualties." Said Samson, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Step forward James Bryant Tanner, Callsign: Mobius 1, leader of Mobius Squadron." James did as he was told. "Due to exceeding bravery in combat, we award you the medal of courage. Due to the number of highly missions you have flown with no requests for a pay raise or any special privileges, and the fact that you have never refused an order, we give you the medal of loyalty. Due to the fact that you undeniably went above and beyond the call of duty, we award you out most prestigious award, the Medal of Honor." James was stunned, barely hearing the round of applause as the Air Force chief pinned the medals to his chest.

"At least, it used to be our highest award, as of now it is our second highest award. In your honor a new award is being commissioned, The Ribbon Medal." Samson said, holding up a medal with the insignia that the tail of James's F-15 bore. "It is to be awarded to pilots only, who have gone above and beyond the Call of Duty and change the face of a war or conflict. Any pilot who is awarded this medal is given a letter of recommendation to whoever he commander of Mobius Squadron is, currently that would be you. This is the only way for someone to receive special recommendation for this elite squadron, and it is still up to the discretion of the squadron leader, as it normally is, if he will be allowed to join this prestigious team." To say that James was stunned would be an understatement, this was the greatest honor he could ever imagine. He opened his mouth to try to speak, but all that came out was a stuttering:

"I am so um so u am-m-m" Kyle Samson laughed and pinned the medal to the chest of James, leaned in close and whispered to him.

"Good job!"


	3. Chapter 3

The Protector: Chapter 2

 **A/N: I have come to the conclusion that the UNSC of this story is identical to the one in Collision Course. That means that at moment of the story, Captain Jacob Keyes is leading the 1st Galactic Fleet in an attempt to rescue the** ** _Galactica_** **and liberate Caprica. If y'all end up wanting me to, I can eventually probably make a triple crossover, Ace Combat, Halo and Battlestar Galactica, however I would like to finish all my current stories before that...**

As James Tanner was getting his awards, halfway across he Milky Way Galaxy, there was a much larger conflict than anything even he had fought in was occurring. It was called the Human-Covenant War. In this war billions of people died in an attempt at the total genocide of the human race, while the captain Jacob Keyes lead his fleet to rescue the Battlestar Galactica, the versatile Gold-Plated Class QATS Frigate _Ruby_ was deployed under the command of the capable Lieutenant Maria Cole to capture and recover a Forerunner artifact from a remote moon.

 **A/N: See the chapter about ships in Collision Course to learn more about the QATS frigate, I am doing my best to follow it religiously, please tell me if I contradict myself at any point. The QATS is about as big as a Remembrance-class frigate, but much better armed.**

The _Ruby_ screamed out from the Forerunner complex, her sunlight engines straining to gain any small speed boost to escape the gravitational pull from the tube they were exiting. The _Ruby_ had gone in at first to only escape incoming Covenant frigates, however, by an incredible stroke of luck, the very object that Maria Cole and her ship had been deployed to retrieve was in the thing they had sped into, which turned out to be a drydock, and now in addition to the mysterious artifact, they had samples of Forerunner shield generators and power generators. If they were able to bring these back, they would provide the UNSC with a massive boost. The generators might even make the seemingly far-fetched Infinity Project seem feasible. Now the only problem was getting it home. As the _Ruby_ sped from the drydock it flew through a spot that was remarkably similar to what Mobius 1 had to fly through, a tunnel barely big enough to hold the Ruby. Maria winced as she heard the paint scrap on the wall.

"There goes our war paint!" She muttered, more to herself than anyone. Then they exited the tunnel, leaving all atmosphere and exterior noise behind. Right outside the facility, there was a large Covenant fleet. Maria could count one CAS Super Carrier, two Heavy Cruisers, three Light Cruisers, and more than ten frigates, there were even more that she couldn't identify. "Starboard 90 degrees, and then all speed ahead." She said, barely managing to keep the fear from her voice. Her navigation officer nodded and followed her instructions.

"Sir! The closest Covenant frigate has launched a plasma torpedo!"

"Brace for impact!" Luckily Maria had sounded general quarters before exiting the drydock. The impact happened only a few seconds after the brace alarm went off. She could feel the ship reverberating from the impact.

"Damage report?" Asked Maria, the infamous plasma torpedoes of the Covenant could inflict massive damage.

"We lost our upper starboard engines, but that is the only thing we lost, we were lucky." Lucky indeed, normally a plasma torpedo would completely destroy a frigate. And Maria wasn't planning to wait for that to happen.

"Weapons, fire our Shiva, immediately after that, Helm, bring us on a blind jump out of here."

"Aye captain." Said Garret Smith, the weapons officer as he pulled out the key around his neck and motioned for Maria to do the same. As they turned their keys simultaneously, a panel popped up for fingerprint ID. Maria took a deep breath and pressed down with her thumb. The massive nuclear warhead flew rapidly towards the incoming Covenant, and the _Ruby_ turned tail and ran. In all the confusion no one noticed the small Forerunner listening probe that attached itself to the side of the frigate.

"Initiating slipspace jump." Said the helmsman, in front of the _Ruby_ a slipspace portal appeared in space, however, it wasn't a normal portal, unlike the usual FTL portal which was pitch black and surrounded by lightning, this one was a pure gold color.

"What the hell, steer away helm!" said Maria, shocked. Unfortunately they were to close to the portal, and they were sucked in.

"M'am, massive energy spikes from the containment room for the artifact we recovered!" Said the XO of the ship, William Jackson. Maria looked at her status board, red lights were lighting up everywhere, speed gauge was off the charts, and the Positioning System was completely off line. Then as suddenly as it began, it stopped. She was thrown forwards slightly as the ship exited the FTL jump, right above a planet that looked remarkably like Earth in the landmass positions and size. However there was unfamiliar attributes. Such as the asteroid belt currently orbiting above the planet, or the total lack of UNSC transmissions. Maria only had a few seconds to process this before Delia, the ships dumb AI alerted her to the fact that one of the aforementioned asteroids hurtling towards the frigate. Before she was even able to give the command, the AI fired a burst from the remaining RCS thrusters, avoiding the asteroid. That was odd, dumb AI usually waited for confirmation before taking initiative.

"Helm, put us in a-" Maria was cut off as another asteroid came hurtling towards the _Ruby_ , hitting the kinetic barrier. Maria fell over as the ship began to spin, getting closer and closer to the planet. "Get us out of here!" Screamed Maria to anyone who could act on it.

"Negative, all RCS and main thruster systems are non-operational." Said Delia in her monotone female voice, typical of dumb AI's.

"Then fucking reboot them!" Maria replied.

"Yes Lieutenant Cole." Said Delia. A scrolling bar appeared on the ships status screen. The bar was already nearing 25 %. She just hoped it would happen fast enough.


	4. Authors Note (Please Read, Important)

Hello everybody, this is the Rookie. After reading over my current stories, their review, etc. I have come to a conclusion. I will be rewriting all of the current chapters and everything of the following stories: A Whole New Hell, Collision Course, The Protector. In other words, I am re-doing all of my stories. I have realized just how much better I can do, especially since I now have Dragon Speech Software. This will definitely take a long time, so be warned. Don't worry, I will publish the originals again with the suffix of "Classic Version" in case the new ones absolutely suck. I will need much support, help, and all that jazz in order to do this. Thank you for your understanding.


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